'You n't be out': Gay Egyptians ntue to fear persecutn

Contents:

• GAY TRAVEL EGYPT
• TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS EGYPT
• GAY DATG EGYPT
• GAY CAIRO
• BEG A GAY MAN EGYPT IS 'TERRIFYG AND THRILLG'
• GAY MALE UPLE EGYPT - EGYPT FOM
• THE TTH ABOUT BEG GAY ANCIENT EGYPT
• A GAY DATE THROUGH THE STREETS OF CAIRO.
• IS SAFE FOR GAY MEN TO TRAVEL TOGETHER EGYPT? - CAIRO FOM
• JUMPG INTO THE GAY “TRAVEL CLOSET” EGYPT
• 'YOU N'T BE OUT': GAY EGYPTIANS NTUE TO FEAR PERSECUTN
• IS SAFE FOR GAY COUPL TO TRAVEL TO EGYPT?

GAY TRAVEL EGYPT

Homosexualy isn’t technilly illegal Egypt, but ’s still a nservative Mlim untry, and gays are discrimated agast and routely round up by the police.

Who’d have thought that a young man wavg a rabow flag at a ncert Cairo 2017 would spark a major crackdown on gays?

“Homosexualy isn’t an official crime Egypt, but laws battg prostutn and “bchery” are ed to imprison gays.

TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS EGYPT

Bee homosexualy isn’t an official crime, laws battg prostutn and “habual bchery” are ed to jtify the imprisonment of gay men and lbians for six months to six years.

A favore tactic of the Egyptian police is to entrap gay men, lurg them to hotels, where they are arrted, by g apps like Grdr. Gay Travel Tips EgyptNow that you’re good and sred, ’s time to say, don’t let that stop you om visg a untry that’s sanely rich amazg templ and tombs of the ancient world. As long as you don’t do anythg overly gay — I’m sure you n rist kissg public durg your travels Egypt — you should pass through unmolted.

GAY DATG EGYPT

You don’t have to be gay to be arrted — jt beg seen as a supporter of the LGBTQ muny is enough. “There are spots that are, to some extent, gay iendly, but even the plac cled after 2011” wh the Egyptian Revolutn, the source told NBC. They didn’t want to look like they were that iendly towards gay people, so they closed their bars and fés and left.

Our Experience as a Gay Couple EgyptDe and I didn’t feel unfortable beg gay Egypt at all.

On the one hand, homosexualy is nsired viant and gay men are discrimated agast; on the other hand, sexual relatns between men are often ignored as harmls. The upsi of the suatn is that gay men n enjoy a variety of sual sexual enunters wh relative ease. The downsi is that, once intified as a homosexual, a visor may experience discrimatn and face problems wh the police.

GAY CAIRO

The se has an active travel sectn, and the more journalistilly cled Gay Middle East has an tertg Egypt sectn (). 800/448-8550 or 954/776-2626;) is the tra associatn for the gay and lbian travel dtry, and offers an onle directory of gay- and lbian-iendly travel bs and tour operators. It provis regularly updated rmatn about gay-owned, gay-oriented, and gay-iendly lodgg, dg, sightseeg, nightlife, and shoppg tablishments every important statn worldwi.

The Canadian webse GayTraveler () offers ias and advice for gay travel all over the world. The followg travel guis are available at many bookstor, or you n orr them om any onle bookseller: Spartac Internatnal Gay Gui, 35th Edn (Bno Gmünr Verlag;); Odysss: The Internatnal Gay Travel Planner, 17th Edn (); and the Damron guis (), wh separate, annual books for gay men and lbians.

You've probably heard of the "Cairo 52" se om 2001, when a group of 52 men were arrted at a gay party the "Queen Boat" moored on the Nile. Dpe terventn by ternatnal human rights anizatns, the suatn for homosexuals remas que alarmg the untry, wh arrt and torture beg mon practice. Simply hang out where the trendit straight crowds do, and you'll see plenty of gay lols and expats.

BEG A GAY MAN EGYPT IS 'TERRIFYG AND THRILLG'

Everyone ss people-watchg om the sofas as they enjoy specialty cktails, and this is where you're most likely to fd a discreet mix of straight and gay. Fashnable gay men playg straight head to the Marrtt for the expensive drks at s Harry's Pub.

GAY MALE UPLE EGYPT - EGYPT FOM

No hotel Cairo advertis self as gay-iendly, but the large chas do attract wealthy gay upl, pecially those lookg out to the pyramids and offerg all sorts of pamperg servic such as spa and fns center. "To be a gay man Egypt is que perplexg, tough, strsg, dangero and thrillg at the same time, " Mo (not his real name), a 27-year-old gay man who works media and munitns Cairo, told The Advote an terview nducted jt before a recent late-night raid on a bathhoe the pal raid has changed everythg, Mo said a follow-up terview.

THE TTH ABOUT BEG GAY ANCIENT EGYPT

But Iraqi's report, which she has fend as an attempt to expose sex traffickg and the spread of HIV Cairo, is jt the latt twist the ever-tighteng vise-grip of LGBT opprsn beg helmed by Egyptian print Abl Fattah el-Sisi's current ernment crackdown on LGBT Egyptians has been amplified by hyperbolic media verage, helpg to foster an crease antigay sentiments wh society -- which arguably serv el-Sisi's need for a spegoat muny upon which to blame Egypt's wo unr his le.

A GAY DATE THROUGH THE STREETS OF CAIRO.

But acrdg to sourc si the untry and expatriat terviewed for this article, there was a time not so long ago when to be gay or trans wasn't as terrifyg as is today. Activists like Abl-Hamid believe el-Sisi is tryg to create a sheen of legimacy followg his btal up agast the equally (but ls proactively) homophobic and transphobic Mlim 2012 the Mlim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi was mocratilly elected to Egypt's princy. As the new print overreached and began makg cre that negated the very mocratic ials laid out the untry's new nstutn -- the ials the got him elected the first place -- the Egyptian ary began warng the print to stay te to the revolutn by actg even unr the le of Morsi and his fundamentalist Mlim Brotherhood party, LGBT people uld rely upon a modicum of predictabily about how to get by beg lbian, gay, bi, or trans, acrdg to numero sourc.

E., more Mlim than Mohammed Morsi], " says a source who is a gay man workg at a proment nonernmental anizatn Cairo, who asked to be attributed by the ials "R. Meanwhile, "Mo" says the suatn on the ground for gay and transgenr Egyptians has always varied om person to person, suatn to suatn, and lole to lole.

"Gays and pecially the obv-lookg on, [you] name feme, 'lady boys, ' transgenr guys, uld alway be subjected to a wi range of discrimatn terms of their place society and their personal secury, " he tells The Advote. "Mo says his posn of privilege has sulated him om a lot of the travails other men experience growg up gay Egypt.

IS SAFE FOR GAY MEN TO TRAVEL TOGETHER EGYPT? - CAIRO FOM

He believ those cints were perpetrated by a closeted, severely reprsed gay man rather than a straight there has been a fundamental change the orr of thgs for gay men, lbians, bisexuals, and transgenr people Egypt sce el-Sisi took the res of power by force, acrdg to LGBT people si the untry. ""I have my own group of gay, queer, liberal iends, and is OK so far terms of the plac I go to wh my iends, " says Mo.

"But if the police ci to arrt a guy or entrap him one day, or raid a gay party, then you are unlucky and your life would be ed. "Downtown Cairo is filled wh gay [cisg areas], f, and bars where gay guys ually gather and chill. "Although homosexualy is technilly not illegal Egypt, LGBT people are regularly prosecuted for crim such as "bchery, " "perversn, " or "sexual practic agast Islam.

Dozens of allegedly gay men were arrted on mera as secury forc were led to the "hammam" by televisn journalist Mona the 26 men who had been arrted along wh the bathhoe owner appeared urt two weeks later, many hid their fac, wept, and implored the urt to believe their nocence lt they and their fai be stroyed. He also remd the urt that is natural for people si of a bathhoe to be drsed only towels, as reporter Mona Iraqi told viewers her "expose" of the bathhoe -- as if the arrted men wearg only towels dited they were engaged men were acquted this month -- such an acqutal is rare, and the ernment has appealed -- but LGBT Egyptians rema , the ubiquo gay hookup app, had to disable s GPS functn Egypt September bee thori were g to entrap gay same month, Egyptian police hunted down as many as 16 men who allegedly appeared a viral vio that purported to show a same-sex weddg that took place on a riverboat on the Nile.

JUMPG INTO THE GAY “TRAVEL CLOSET” EGYPT

Dpe "ttg negative" for homosexualy and claimg the whole thg was a joke, eight of the acced were sentenced to three years jail, found guilty of "spreadg cent imag and cg bchery. However, the guys appearg the vio didn't get the solidary and support need om nonhomosexual muni or ordary cizens. If you read the ments on the vio that was leaked, they were full of homophobia and cement agast them.

'YOU N'T BE OUT': GAY EGYPTIANS NTUE TO FEAR PERSECUTN

"Mo is quick to pot out that the posed Mlim Brotherhood is no more nocent regardg the opprsn and arrts of the men the "gay weddg" vio than the ary ernment that toppled them om power.

"Some members of the Mlim Brotherhood policized the issue and blamed the so-lled ary up for the 'gay-weddg' vio, " he says.

"Naturally, I'm sure how aware you are of the suatn the Arab world general and Egypt ncerng the homophobic society we are livg , " he tells The Advote. "We are fally startg to align ourselv to be able to work as a work the regn, wh an objective of enuragg and supportg those who support LGBT, which is the first step that needs to be remove the topic om beg a taboo the culture or media, " he out how the LGBT muny Cairo is tryg to mobilize agast all odds the send part of The Advote's si look at life for gay men Egypt unr the reprsive el-Sisi regime.

IS SAFE FOR GAY COUPL TO TRAVEL TO EGYPT?

Hi all, I know this has been asked prevly, but i'm jt after some advice on the current stance towards gay men Egypt. There's que a b the media recently about homosexualy discrimatn Egypt, but this is a place I have always wanted to see, so don't want to enunter any problems. This is jt my own ia, surely gay upl who prevly vised Egypt n give you better sight about this pot.